177/365: National Chocolate Pudding Day

Today’s food holiday is decadent, creamy, and smooth. Unless you live in England, where it’s more of a spongey cake-like consistency. June 26 is National Chocolate Pudding Day!

We’ve had pudding holidays before, so if you’re keeping track of all your food history through our blog, you’ll remember that “pudding” once referred to sausage, and was savory long before it ever became sweet. In England, if you order chocolate pudding, you’ll get a cake-like dessert that is thickened with eggs and steamed. Here in the good ol’ USA, pudding is thickened with starch and boiled, resulting in a much creamier treat. I’ll give Britain their cool double-decker buses and Big Ben, but I personally think our version of pudding is about a hundred times better than theirs. And I know. I’ve had both.

Jell-O started making puddings back in 1897, but most of the early flavors were fruity. In 1934 General Foods introduced Walter Baker’s Dessert, a chocolate confection named after Baker’s chocolate company. In 1936, in an effort to fend off a million “who the hell is Walter Baker?” questions, the name was simplified to Jell-O Chocolate Pudding.

We went the easy route today and had prepared chocolate pudding cups. Before you cry foul, just remember that we slaved over souffles twice this year, and have made a majority of desserts from scratch. We needed a break!